Please help me identify these Mexican Day of the Dead figurines

November 30, 2016 9:04 AM

I have two small DotD figurines, each dressed identically. Each wears a red top, with an ankle-length skirt decorated with a floral motif around its bottom hem. Each has a colourful scarf/stole draped over its shoulders, which reaches below the knees. Each has a tight black hat and a pair of round decorations on its head where the ears would be. In comparison to the head, these decorations are about the size of cupcakes.

Could anyone tell me who these figures represent, please? All my efforts to Google an answer to this question have failed. Many thanks.

posted by Paul Slade to Society & Culture (6 answers total)

santa muerte?
posted by speakeasy at 9:32 AM on November 30, 2016

Response by poster: I don't think it's Santa Muerte - at least, my figures don't match either the pictures or the description on that Wikipedia page. If you go to the Photos and Videos section of my Twitter page here, you should be able to see some thumbnails of the figures I'm talking about. Click on them to enlarge to full frame.
posted by Paul Slade at 9:55 AM on November 30, 2016

To make this a little bit easier, here are the pictures in a tweet.
posted by Too-Ticky at 10:01 AM on November 30, 2016

Calacas can be of all sorts of specific people, or just be generic.

The first figure Too-Tricky linked looks like Frida Kahlo due to the unibrow and the monkey.

The second one might also be her, or it could just be a generic woman in a particular artist's style.
posted by Wossname at 10:08 AM on November 30, 2016 [2 favorites]

Katrina?
posted by monotreme at 11:27 AM on November 30, 2016

Generic people. They are wearing a generic folk dress style and those aren't hats but braided hair in an updo that's pretty typical for Mexican folk dance.
posted by wilky at 11:34 AM on November 30, 2016 [2 favorites]